Nov 1, 1999 Over The Edge Page 7 Big Bad Voodoo Daddy “| think you have to be optimistic about This Beautiful Life what happens to you in your life.” Explained Big Bad Voodoo Daddy front- man Scotty Morris. This sums up the atti- ude behind this successful big band’s newest and greatest, This Beautiful Life. To BBVD, This Beautiful Life is a per- sonal album, upbeat but serious at the same time. After their last album, which was more of a party record, this time they are going for fun, but serious too. Fortunately, BBVD beat the swing rage hich, short lasted as it was, died some- time about a year ago after its chic disin- egrated to trendy following a huge insur- gence. BBVD went back to roots instead. This is big band. This is the likes of Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, and Louis Armstrong. Surprisingly enough, Morris had his Interscope / Universal Madder Rose Hello June Fool True North / Universal Madder Rose is hardly new to the pop scene. The Canadian quads fourth release, Hello June Fool follows previous releases Tragic Magic, Panic On, and Bring it Down, which broke the ground for the band with their first single, Swim. It's easy to see why. Madder Rose is ~girespected in their particular groove. r¢Lead singer / guitarist Mary Lorson brings the bands sound together with an achingly pure vocal. Meanwhile the rest of the band, consisting of drummer Johnny Kick, bassist Chris Giammalvo, Biohazhard : New World Disorder Biohazard conveys the pain and M, ne Universal anger which they see in society today, Crcuny claims bassist/vocalist Evan Seinfeld. This Brooklyn band began singing about their roots, about what they saw going down on their turf, in their city. After signing a record deal with a small New York label, they dicked around for a cou- ple of years and then signed to a more reputable label, Roadrunner Records. After signing to Roadrunner, they thought it necessary to undertake a tour, and were surprised to find themselves playing to packed houses for the main part. New World Disorder is Biohazards seventh album, following No Holds starts on the L.A. punk scene, to which he attributes his love for jazz. Confessing that jazz was always his first love, Morris claims that in the days of old punk (and still for the most part) punk bands would “just go for it, improvise the shit out of everything.” This he concludes is the same as it is a lot with jazz, especially in the old time New Orleans scene. Since their rapid leap to popularity and fame, BBVD has had a huge string of accomplishments to look back upon. These include a Super Bowl half time per- formance (1999), a platinum album, a Grammy nomination, three sold-out North American tours, appearances in the film “Swingers, and on TV’s “Party of Five” and “Melrose Place.’ They also created the theme for “Third Rock From the Sun.” Afterwards they received the key to their hometown city of Ventura, California and and guirarist Billy Cote haul right behind her with a dreamy folk inspired line. Someone described Madder Rose as “timely melodical” once, which is surpris- ingly fitting. A strange combination of The Velvet Underground and, surprise, Sonic Youth give this band an educated sound, but without conforming to any- thing consumerist. Mystifyingly calm but bittersweet lyrics put the icing on Hello June Fool, thanks to Mary. Billy’s wall of guitars back the smooth rhythm with careful explosions of emphatically perfect noise. Johnny’s Bared, their first live recording. Any critic would call this CD hard- core, although Seinfeld tries to convince the world otherwise, “Biohazard isn’t any ‘type’ of music but Biohazard music...Biohazard is and always has been about free thinking, individuality, not flag waving.” With more specific ref- erence to New World Disorder, the band says that “this is the Biohazard experi- ence - loud and in your face, up close and personal.” Damn right it is. Maybe a bit too up close and personal. With a definite message of “screw the world we're all going to die anyway,” New World Disorder has the same mes- sage which the band has gained a great deal of “mosh-only thank-you” followers were invited to play at the White House. Not everyone can rattle off a similar list. This time the band is going to walk you through a fun, soulful record which besides being great big band, also inspires a bit of thought. Generally upbeat, “I Wanna Be Like You” is BBVD’s version of the popular Jungle Book song, “Big Time Operator” is a classy sax con- tribution, “Still in Love With You” plays an ode to a romance gone by, where “2000 Volts” weaves a black tale about one bad dude. However, lead track “Big and Bad” best demonstrates the bands reversion to roots big band. In the words of Morris himself, “We’re gonna keep doing what we do and work hard at it, whether that means another platinum album or just playing Disneyland for the rest of our lives.” bass line never falters. This is a band which has been coming for a long time, and which has been sub- ject to a variety of different influences. They show through this free-ranging compilation, mellow but somehow mov- ing at the same time. for. These guys think that they know “how the world turns, and what can stop it from turning.” That must be why they yell about it a lot. “What the pitfalls of mankind are. What will destroy mankind as we know it...” That's what Biohazard is all about. So, wanna know what’s going to destroy us? Might be important with the millen- nium on its way... Hear it in hi-fi scream- o-sonic in New World Disorder.